When you run
Skyrim for the first time, the
program automatically sets the graphics for you, based on
your PC. If you're actually happy with the way the
program set things up graphically, then just play the game
and don't change anything . . . and you're probably in the
wrong place right now, because that's 90% of what this
section is about. But if you want to find some ways to
tweak up the graphics AND still get acceptable FPS, then you
might want to try out some of my tweaks (Oh, I should
probably point out that "my" doesn't mean that I come up
with all these tweaks, although I did come up with a few of
them on my own . . . "my" refers to my collection of
tweaks, that have helped improved both the appearance and
the performance of Skyrim on my previous computer. Even
Oblivion never ran very well, especially after adding all the mods I
wanted to use.

The default game speed is 20:1, meaning that a
game day lasts 72 minutes in real time (24/20 = 1.2 hours; 1.2 * 60 = 72
minutes).

The
default game speed is too fast to use survival mods that add eating,
drinking, and sleeping needs . . . you'll soon begin to feel that all
you character is doing is eating and sleeping (as these needs will be
popping up every few minutes). This is why you need to change your
timescale settings.

I'm currently using a game speed of 8:1. So a
game day will last 180 minutes (24/8 = 3 hours).

A
Timescale of 10 (10:1) also seem to work well, where a game day lasts
144 minutes (24/10 = 2.4 hours.

Warning: You should NOT set your
Timescale lower than 8, as that will likely break some of the quests.

One of the best
things about Skyrim a program called the Creation Kit (which Bethesda
should be releasing soon), which is used to create, modify, and edit data in the game. And these changes and additions are
added to your installed game through MODs. (Note: you do not have
to use the Creation to install and use mods that were made by
other people.)

So MODs are used to modify your game
(the term "MOD" is just short for "modify").

-

MODs can make graphic changes, like
the ones that change the appearance of the characters in the game.

-

MODs can even add new
characters, and change or add new buildings, plants, clothing, weapons, wildlife,
and many other types of items.

-

MODs can even add new
characters, and change or add new buildings, plants, clothing, weapons, wildlife,
and many other types of items.

-

MODs can even add entire villages,
cities, and even new land masses to the game.

All that is pretty amazing, but MODs
can do way more than just make graphic changes/additions. MODs can also change the way the game
plays.

-

MODs can change combat, and the behavior of the wildlife,
and slow
down the speed
that you level up, and change how
healing works.

-

MODs can add alternative starts
(allowing you to skip the tutorial).

-

MODs can also reduce the amount of
blood and gore in the game.

And that's just the beginning.

-

MODs can also make it so your
character needs to eat food, drink water, and sleep.

-

MODs can change the weather
and lighting in the
game - and make nights and interiors darker - so you will need a torch to
see.

You see, my
skyrim
Journal is meant to be a role-playing guide, since Skyrim is a
Role-Playing game (or RPG).

Adding the right
combination of mods to your game can change Skyrim into a much better
RPG (of course, everyone has their own ideas about what is "better" in a
RPG, so you might not want to install all the mods that are my
Skyrim Mod List).

Customizing
Skyrim with mods is a slow process for me, since I am also be
working on my Skyrim Tweaks (which will a just a small mod with a few of
my own game play tweaks . . . and NOT a huge overhaul like my Realism
Tweaks are for the two Fallout games).I have spent many, many hours researching
the available
mods (which increases every day). Then I download and installed the
ones that I feel might improve my game. Then spend more hours play
testing them in
my own game. If the mod passes my play testing, I then add it to my mod
list (which is a very slow process for me, because of my language
issues).

I'll have to spent a great deal of time trying out
a large number of
mods in order to improve this game. Fortunately, I have a lot
of experience at doing this (see my
Oblivion Journal),
so I'm much faster than I used to be.

My
main goal in adding MODS has always been to make the game more fun!

The MODs that I'll be using all have to do
at least one of the following:

1.)

Made Skyrim more balanced (Rebalancing and Leveling Mods)

2.)

Correct or
improve the game quests (Quest Fixing Mods)

3.)

Made Skyrim
a better Role-playing game (my Skyrim Tweaks and Realism Mods)

4.)

Improve the
way information is presented to the player (Interface Mods)

5.)

Improve the
appearance of the game (Graphic Mods)

6.)

Add some new
things to the game (Expansion Mods)

I
want Skyrim to be a Role Playing Game that will be
a real adventure for me, so I'll work at putting
together the best possible
combination of mods that give me that.

I also have my own ideas about what is wrong with
Skyrim (and what needs to be fixed),
so my preferences in selecting
mods might be very different from what others might want in their
game. So look at this more as a mod review (for a very small percentage
of the mods that are available for Skyrim).

This NMM is a utility program that you install on your computer, which makes it much
easier to manage mods. Mods that may be easy to install
can often be very difficult to remove, and this is where the NMM really
shines.

Warning! If you use
the NMM to download and automatically install mods posted on the
Skyrim Nexus site, make sure that the the mod has been
packaged for the NMM. The problem is that many mods are not packaged
correctly, or there are optional files that you can download (that you
will likely miss). I examine
all the mods that I download before using the NMM to install them (by
viewing the archive before activating it).

This is how I manage my own mods and use the
NMM:

1.) I always open the mod's
archive file and make sure that it
is packaged correctly. If the download contains optional files (in
non-standard format), such as an Optional directory, I remove those
files (and if I plan to use them, I zip them into separate archives).
Then I rezip the remaining files into an archive.

2.) Then I move the new archives into my Skyrim Mods Download folder
(which is a new folder that I created)

3.) Then I use the NMM to install the mod (by pointing it to the mod in my Skyrim Mods
Download folder), and to later uninstall it (if and when I decide to do
so).

This takes a bit more effort, but I know exactly what I am
installing, and I rarely miss any optional files.

Arwen Note: Even when the mod's author states that their mod has been
packaged for the NMM, you should still open the archive and take a
look at it (and read its ReadMe) before activating it.

The NMM and the Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE):

If you have mods that requite the
Skyrim Script
Extender, you can no
longer just use the NMM's "Launch Skyrim" button to start Skyrim.
If you do that, then the SKSE will not run, and any mods that require it
will not work correctly.

What you have to do is:

1.) click on NMM's "Settings" (the gears icon at the top)

2.) click on the "Skyrim" tab

3.) In the "Custom Launch Command" section (near the bottom), find the
box the is right after the "Command:" text, and

4.) Put the following text in that box:
skse_loader.exe

5.) Then click on the "OK" button, and close the NMM (as you have to
restart it for your changes to take effect)..

6.) Restart the NMM and use the little pull down arrow, which is just to
the right of
th "Launch Skyrim"
button, to select "Launch Custom Skyrim"

Then you will be able to just click on the
"Launch Custom Skyrim"
button to launch Skyrim, along with the SKSE.

Some mods require a clean save when you uninstall
them or when you upgrade to a newer version.

Follow these steps:

1.)

It is generally best to go to an interior cell,
and smaller cells are best. An interior cell is apparent
because you have a loading screen when you "open" the door from
the outside (such as when you enter most buildings).

2.)

Save your game to a new save slot (do not overwrite an
earlier save) and quit the game.

3.)

Uninstall the mod.

4.)

Start the game and load your last saved game.

5.)

After the game full loads, make a SECOND new save (do
not overwrite an earlier save) and quit the game.

6.)

If you're upgrading the mod that you uninstalled,
you can now install the new version.

7.)

Start the game and load your previous saved game.

8.)

Just to be safe: make one more new save (do not
overwrite an earlier save).

Arwen
Note: These two files are located in your
\Documents\My Games\Skyrim folder by default. PLEASE make
a backup copy of these files before you make any edits to them.

I use Notepad++ to do edits to ini files (since I have it
installed to write my mod's scripts on), but you can just use
the default Windows notepad it you want.

The following is just a collection of edits that I'm using in
my own game.

SkyrimPrefs.ini Edits:

Erratic Pointer in Menus

(Caused when the X and Y
mouse speeds are different.)
Try adding the following lines under
[Controls]:fMouseHeadingYScale=0.0200
fMouseHeadingXScale=0.0200

(Arwen Note: you
many want to use a different value than 0.0200 . . . just use
the same value for both. Also leave bMouseAcceleration=1, which
is the default setting, and works fine for most users, since the
first patch)

V-sync Laggy Mouse

Add (or change) the
following line under [Display]:iPresentInterval=0

(Arwen Note: This
can also improve a low frame rate. If iPresentInterval=1
already exists, change the 1 to 0)

Compass & Compass Markers

Deactivate quest-marker:Add (or change) the following line under [GamePlay]bShowFloatingQuestMarkers=0
bShowQuestMarkers=0

(Arwen Note: Place icons & enemies will still be
displayed. The easiest way to remove those is to turn off the
compass.)

Deactivate compass:
Add (or change) the following line under [Interface]bShowCompass=0

HUD Opacity

To reduce the opacity of
the HUD. Change the following line under [Main]
fHUDOpacity=1.0000 to fHUDOpacity=0.5000

(Arwen Note: Try my suggested value of 0.5000 first, and
then either increase it or decrease it until you get the look
that you want.)

Disable Always Run

Change the following line
under [Display]:
bAlwaysRunByDefault=1 to
bAlwaysRunByDefault=0

(Arwen Note: I found
it annoying that my character always ran by default, when I
wanted her to run unless I held the Shift key down, or toggled
the Caps-Lock.)

Disable Grass Shadows (available since v.1.6 patch)

Change the following line
under [Display]:
bShadowsOnGrass=1 to bShadowsOnGrass=0

(Arwen Note: This
can improve your FPS, but will not look quite as nice.)

Skyrim.ini Edits:

Change the 1st Person Field of View (FOV):

Add the following line
under [Display]:fdefaultfov=90

(Arwen Note: The
default FOV is 70 degrees, which might be fine for an X-Box, but
it can make the1st person view feel too close, particularly if
you have a wide screen monitor. You can try out different
fov setting in-game, by using the console and entering:
fov 85
The above changes the FOV to 85 degrees, but console FOV changes
will apparantly revert to default eventually.)

Definition of Shadows

Find the following line
under [Display]:
iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3 ; (defautlt setting)

To make
shadows sharper, change the 3 to a lower value (try
2, and if that is still not sharp enough for you, try 1).To make shadows softer, change the 3 to
a higher value (try 5 to 7).

(Arwen Note: I
personally found the shadows to be too sharp/harsh, so I'm using
iBlurDeferredShadowMask=5,
which I like much better. But I also increased the resolution of
shadows, as shown in my next tweak.)

Resolution of Shadows

Find the following lines
under [Display]:
iShadowMapResolutionSecondary=1024 iShadowMapResolutionPrimary=2048

(Arwen
Note: the above were my default settings, yours might be
different. I doubled the default resolution as shown below.)

3.) If you want no Health Regen Rate at all, you need the
healrate to = 0; so to go from the default 0.70 rate, enter: player.modav healrate -0.70

Open the Skyrim FaceGen

enter
showracemenu
and then close the console (you won't be able to make any
changes while the console is open)

Arwen Note:this will often also causes your stats to reset
. . . so use this with caution (see below).

You can safely used this to alter
your character's appearance as long as race is not changed. But
all temporary active effects will be removed. To restore
them, save your game and then load that save from the main menu.
Any enchanted items will have to be re-equipped for their active
effects to be displayed again.